Cheep!

Another mirror lens shot; from a bush in my Dad's front yard.

Been a very, very long week.

Was originally supposed to go up to Dad's in Des Moines last weekend to help more with cleaning out his old locksmith shop, before he went in the hospital to have his colostomy reversed, and my sister's family was coming over to meet me there this weekend (Labor Day) to get the large furniture pieces they were taking from the shop.

Monkey wrench #1 came when Mom (who's been the registered caregiver for stepdad's cancer treatment at the University of Iowa Medical Center/Iowa City over the last month and a half) ended up in the hospital herself for what turned out to be a bleeding ulcer in her colon. So they got kicked out of the American Cancer Society-sponsored hostel they were staying in; the hostel rules required a caregiver on-site to watch over the cancer patient at all times. My sister went up there from Illinois and took over as caregiver last week, with me scheduled to swap with her on Sunday.

Monkey wrench #2 was sis getting so stressed by the situation that she asked me to come over Saturday instead of Sunday. So instead of spending a day helping Dad at the shop before meeting sis in Iowa City, I had to drive straight out there, with just a stop along the way to talk with Dad about what sis and I would do next weekend.

So got there Saturday, got settled in and got a crash course from sis about what to do as stepdad's caregiver, and she went home Sunday.

Caregiver work wasn't too bad the first part of the week; shuttle stepdad to the hospital for his treatments, help him with his stomach tube, check on Mom in another part of the hospital. (She was feeling fine by this point, but the hospital was keeping her there while they re-balanced the blood thinning drugs she was on and got her blood chemistry readings up to the point they wanted.)

Main problem then was the hostel's WiFi network; it was slow and blocked the two chat networks I used to keep in touch with my friends, so I felt like I was cut off from most of the world. Also, I needed to stay in our room (effectively a mid-sized hotel room) if I couldn't let stepdad know I was stepping out; so since he spent a lot of time sleeping, I spent a lot of time in the room. Was getting kinda stir-crazy towards the end. And with always having to stay in the room when I wasn't running around, I couldn't get any remote work done, so going to have catching up to do when I go back to the office.

Monkey wrench #3: Mom was released from the hospital Wednesday, but the hostel wasn't going to let her stay with us. Only the patient and the recognized caregiver can stay at the hostel; we eventually were able to work out some place for her to stay.

Monkey wrench #4: Stepdad started having problems with his throat on Thursday, and had real trouble sleeping Thursday night.

Monkey wrench #5: Friday was his last treatment for the cancer, a final radiation dose. After the awful night he had before, he needed to see the doctor before the treatment. Because it was his last day, we needed to be out of the hostel by 9:30 AM. Much juggling of schedules and rushing to pack stuff up and load it in the car ensued.

Finally got everything taken care of and got stepdad's final treatment done about noon on Friday, then saw mom and stepdad off on their drive back to Galesburg, while I got ready to drive to Des Moines to meet sis to help load stuff at Dad's shop.

Mixed blessing #1: Dad called the hospital early in the week to do a final check on what preparations he needed to make for his reversal surgery. They told him that because something had come up with his surgeon, the surgery had been postponed for a month. Much frustration on his part, because he'd already been doing the liquid diet/fasting in preparation, for two days. Also frustration because he wanted to get rid of having to wear a colostomy bag. But at least some relief because he could be there at his shop while sis and I were working there with her family.

Mixed blessing #2: Sis's family arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday. Original plan was to go over what needed to be done and make preparations for moving the heavy furniture pieces on Sunday. Because certain people got gung-ho about pushing forward while we were inspecting the furniture, all of the heavy stuff got loaded late Saturday afternoon instead. So... yay for getting it out of the way early? Not-so-yay for charging straight into it without much preparation or much break for rest. I was kinda worried by how hard Dad was working, and so was sis.

Today, we finished by moving the lighter furniture and some misc. boxes of stuff into sis's rented U-Haul. Finally left Des Moines in the late afternoon and got home about 7:30 tonight. Kitticats were all right; neighbor did very well taking care of them on short notice. All gracious thanks and honor to her.

Now it is time to collapse. ^^;;